Baby & Toddler Foods

This is for the event Healthy Morsels - Baby & Toddler Foods.

I would like to share my experience with my Daughter now 12 yrs old. They are fresh in my mind as I have gone through them over and over as I cherished the memories in my mind and when asked for advice by other new mothers. There are some basic rules for feeding babies and toddlers for which advice I am grateful to the experienced ladies who adviced me. They saved me a lot of headache when coping with a energetic toddler alone without any relatives or neighbours nearby.

Rule No. 1 : Dont forcefeed your child. If she has stopped eating what you painstakingly prepared, dont take it personally and get frustrated and stuff your baby's mouth. It will only be sprayed back all over and you will have to clean everything. She will also get the idea that eating is something which causes mommy to be angry with her. Even just born babies can sense tension and stress in their mothers.

Rule No.2 : Get your child in the habit of eating from a specific place in the house. No roaming around with a bowl and spoon and making the whole house dirty. This rule has caused me a lot of head ache when I visited India on holidays as I was expected to feed my daughter by carrying my daughter around cooing and cuddling to "show " my love and care for her.Sorry. Not my cup of tea. Got a lot of flak from my mother and other female relatives but I persevered. My daughter started eating by herself without any fuss by the age of two or so. Keep your baby's food habits and sleeping patterns seperate from cuddling.

If you neglect this rule, as I said, the child will take it for granted that the whole house can by spattered with food, you will be forever wiping food from the sofas, steps, well you get the idea. And if you are not careful, you will be running behind your child even after she starts going to school.

Rule 3: Just because the adverts show a plump little child slurping from a baby food container it dosent mean that your child will like it. After about four or five varieties of cereal boxes, baby formula tins, I conceded to my baby's demand for home made food. She was never plump like Amul baby. I gave away all the store bought items and stuck to home made. I breast fed my daughter till 2 yrs old, started on solids at sound five months of age. The bottle was sparingly used for fresh juices and smoothies type of food.

Some recipes:

When cooking normal south Indian lunch, we have rice, dal & veggies. reserve  a little seperate from the rest before adding any spices to it. Scald the small jar and lid of the mixie with boiling water from the electric kettle. grind everything to a fine paste for younger babies and progressively coarser pastes for older babies. Take out in a container, Check for taste. If you dont find it tasty dont expect your baby to think any differently. It should be mild enough for your baby, but you should be able to eat atleast three teaspoons without gagging. That was my test for baby food.

Take a little seperately in a small bowl, feed the baby with an almost flat and small spoon. When starting for the first time and infact everytime make sure the baby is hungry but not so hungry as to be cranky and irritable. Keep food ready before she starts crying for it. Keep mealtimes as regular as possible so that the babies digestive system gets used to a timetable.

Another fav for my daughter was mashed boiled potatoes. I used to mix a little full fat milk powder for protien and a pinch of asafoetida and roasted jeera powder also to aid in digestion. She espescially like the potatoes cooked in non- veg gravy. I used to rinse away the masala with boiling water before mashing, but there was a light hint of the curry in the end product.

Third ofcourse is what every south indian knows - mashed idlies. Even as a baby, my daughter disliked sweet food, so instead of sugar and milk, I used dal water or milk with a little strained sambhar to make it the right consistency.

Fourth is Curd rice smashed to a coarse paste in the mixie. Add a little milk if the curd is too sour.

One more important item which I gave my daughter regularly , prepared every night by her daddy was egg milk mixture. This was after one year. Beat one or two eggs lightly , add boiling milk beating vigorously. the eggs will be cooked in the boiling milk to a custard like consistency. Strain through seive. Cool to warm enough or room temperature. Feed with a bottle with large hole
I dont remember adding sugar to this. In fact its preferable not to add sugar.

Some people have the habit espescially for toddlers to sleep with the bottles in the mouth. If she finishes feeding and is falling asleep, try and wake her up to sip from a bottle atleast a sip of water to cleanse the mouth, or else you may get fungal infection in the mouth, and cavities also. There is also the danger of the milk going to the nasal passages and suffocation. Or it may go to the ear canal and get ear infection.

Then there is mashed banana plain or mixed with cooked egg yolk.

Everybody knows about sprouted, dried, roasted and powdered ragi made into a gruel or pudding.

Ofcourse apples either cooked or scraped directly from the whole fruit.

In kerala, nenthrangai (semi ripe plantains) are steam cooked, grated, dried and powdered and made into a gruel or pudding for baby food. It is supposedly delicious, but I knew of it only when my dd was around 4 yrs old.

Then what else?

In bringing up babies as with everything else, Prevention is better than cure.

Be scruplously clean. You may think you are alone in a foriegn country with nobody to help you and you don't have the time, but it is all the more important for women like us to be more careful. believe me its easier to use boiling water from a kettle to sterilise everything baby uses than to clean up after a sleepless night with a feverish baby with diarrhea or vomiting. Wipe floors with disinfectant. Use dettol in the washing machine while washing clothes. If possible dry clothes in hot sun. Periodically sun the pillows etc used by your baby in the sun. I used polyester pillows so I washed in the washing machine regularly (monthly I think). I even washed the soft toys and rubber toys in the washing machine and dried them in the hot sun. use a washable mattress pad on the mattresses without fail.

Dont associate sleeping with rocking a baby to sleep or singing her to sleep or feeding her to sleep. When the baby is tired, you will know. Put her on the bed in a darkened and quiet room. and expect her to sleep. If she wakes up in between and fusses and you are sure shes not hungry or wet, dont lift her, it's very very tempting because babies look like angels when sleeping, control yourself and pat her or murmur her back to sleep. Lifting her up will disturb whatever sleep she has.

For gods sake please please dont keep any container like bucket or basin with water in the house. Babies have drowned by falling face first in five inches of water. Switch off the phone while bathing baby so you will not be tempted to leave the baby for a few mins while you answer the call. it can be deadly. Even the bathroom buckets should be emptied. If you are facing water problem, keep your stored water where the baby cannot crawl into or pull a chair up and climb to peep into it.

Seal all plug points at lower levels so the tiny fingers cannot poke into it. No plastic covers or pieces of string or ropes or cords lying around. No small items for the curious baby to swallow. Dont underestimate your baby.  My daughter actually stuffed her nose with a date seed in front of my eyes, it all happened within seconds and I was freaked out. My hubby was not to be reached, there was no mobile in those days, Luckily instead of breathing it she swallowed it. She was around two and a half.
I spent aroud half an hour terrified that my daughter with choke to death in my arms and I was going to kill myself. When we went to emergency room for an x ray the stupid seed was in her stomach. Whew!

I hope I have not bored anybody with my advice, maybe I sound bossy, but it is because I am the eldest of three sisters. (Smile)

Babies are wonderful. Love them as much as possible in all their stages of life. Whenever you hit a difficult patch remember this will pass. All that will be left will be sweet memories and the love you showed her. They grow up so fast. Sigh!

My first badge

This is for participating in Healthy Morsels - Pregnancy event a blog hop at Taste of Pearl City, Schmetterling Words and Lecker & Yummy Recipes. Its my first badge. I must say this badge makes me very happy. I want to add it on my side bar or some where but I dont know how. No energy nowadays for anything. I just want to sleep & sleep.

I like the design of the logo also. Do check out the round up for some wonderful recipes and hints on managing pregnancy.

Happy News, Nalla Vishesham

For those readers, who are visting my blog regularly, and maybe wondering why there are no new posts for a while, I have a very good reason. I am not able to enter the kitchen without feeling nauseous. I dont actually bring anything out, but the feeliing is there and also dizziness. Yes I know in the films they show the newly married heroine feeling dizzy and rushing off to the bathroom or wherever and then the doctor comes, holds her wrists and says, congratulations, you  are going to become a mother.
Yes. I am expecting a new addition to our family some seven months or so. To say I am stunned is understating the matter. My DD is 12 for the past ten years, we have tried for another child, and around two years back, I gave up and left taking any medicine or even thinking about it. after all I had crossed 35 by then. On my first Umrah, I had made supplication for another child, but did not go to the gyneac.

The Almighty moves in mysterious ways. I am a little anxious about my age, mostly deliriously thankful to God, sometimes worried how difficult it is to bring up children with proper moral values in these deteriorating times. Well He has taken care of our little family till now, He will take care in future also. I leave everything to my Rabb.

Right now I cant stand the smell of rice cooking or oil heating. Sigh! Hopefully this stage will be over soon, and I will start cooking properly and posting again.

By the by those who are wondering whether the tips I had given for combating morning sickness in my previous post really work. They do. I am trying them all over again. For that constant bitter feeling in my mouth, I have taken the habit of chewing sounf seeds to freshen my mouth. it works for some time.  For the rest of the time, I just think that in another one or two months I will be feeling hungry again and eating well and be patient till then. The more stressed out you make yourself thinking of morning sickness the more it will attack you. Chill out and you will feel better.

Puliangudi Special - Ulundhamparuppu Curry - Udad Dal Curry

I wanted to make my 50th post something special, everybody does it with sweets, but I wanted to do  something different. I decided upon this Ulundham paruppu curry as it is special to me.

This is one of the recipes that is unique to my native place, it is made in Puliangidi, Kadayanallur, Vallam Sengottai areas. I think Udad dal dishes are prevalent in this area because udad is the crop used in rotation between the rice crops.

During season, green udad bean pods are available (directly from the fields). These are boiled whole in salted water and then peeled and the green beans inside are eaten. Let me tell you they are really delicious and it is something I looked forward to when I visited during my summer holidays.

Girls who have attained age and pregnant and post partem women are given ulundh kali, ulundham paruppu curry, Ulundhu vadai, ulundhu choru in fact in Unlundhu/Udad Dal in as many forms as possible because it is said to srengthen the pelvic muscles and the back bone. The kali has a bitter taste due to the addition of aliyam vidhai. I remember being force fed the kali when I attained age. But I am grateful now, because I am relatively free of the backpain that seems to be so prevalent among women of my age in my acquaintance. I will post the recipes for the other items in future, if the almighty wills.

aromatic and creamy ulundham paruppu curry

Now for my favourite Ulundham paruppu curry.
First Step:
Udad Dhal - 1/2  cup
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Garlic Cloves 2-3
Cook all the above together with water to cover till the dal is cooked but seperate.
Second step:
1/2 cup grated coconut
1/2 tsp Sombu / perunjeeragam/ sonf
1 " piece Cinnamon
1/2 tsp jeera
1 " piece Ginger
2-3 Garlic Cloves
Grind all the above to a fine paste.
Third Step:
1 Big Onion Chopped or a handful of Sambhar onions (preferable)
One tomato - fimely Chopped
two green chillies Slit
1 tsp Chilli Powder (Omit for post partem ladies and can use a bit of black pepper powder instead)
4 tsp Malli Masala Powder
salt to taste
1 tsp Mustard seeds
two sprigs curry leaves.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard, after it splutters, add curry leaves and chopped onion. When onions change colour, add tomato peices, green chillies, salt, chilli powder, malli masala, and stir till raw smell of chilli powder goes. Add the ground coconut paste. Add water to make thick gravy and simmer till the masala is cooked. Last add the cooked udad dal with its water. Adjust for salt and serve with plain boiled rice and tomato chutney or any spicy curry. We had it with Pavakkai waruval & cauliflower jeera stir fry (recipes following soon).

Variations:
When the masala is boiling you can add Drumsticks or Raw mango to it and boil till cooked to get a really different and delicious flavour.
For a non veg variation, after the dal is added, eggs are broken into the gently simmering gravy and cooked. This is also good, but my husband dosen't like it, so I take a little in another pan and do it seperately.
Instead of the cinnamon and sonf in the coconut masala, you can add a tsp of garam masala powder, but I prefer not to do so.
Remember not to overcook the paruppu/dal, if the dal disingerates, the curry will take on a slippery texture which is not palatable to some people.

I am sending this to Foodelicious - Only South Indian Event, Vegan Diet - Only Plant Based, Any One can Cook series 45, Healthy Morsels, Vidhya's and Vardhini's  - Love Locked - Legumes.

Koththu Parotta - Plain Version

Sometimes when we make or buy Parottas, there are leftovers. This can be turned into delicious Koththu parotta the next day. This is very simple & quick item.

Left over parottas - Chop into small pieces directly from the fridge. Its easier that way.
Onions - sliced - For three salad plate sized parottas, use one big Onion
Tomatoes - 2 - 3 finely chopped
Chillies - 2 slit
Salt to taste
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp or more if you want more heat.
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp Optional
Corrainder leaves - chopped - a little
Oil as required

Heat oil in a pan, add onions, fry till golden, add ginger garlic paste, green chillies and sautee till raw smell of masala goes, add the spice powders and tomatoes , add salt, stir till tomatoes are mushy, add a tbsp of water if the gravy is too dry, fold in the chopped parotta pieces and the corriander. Squeeze half a lime if necessary. Serve with chips or raita. Simple , fast, delicious.

Potato Biriyani

This is one of the recipes that bring back memories of myself fighting with my sisters to scrape the pan clean. Even my finicky younger sister would polish it off. The name is Biriyani, but my mother used normal rice (parboiled rice) for making it. When Rasi at Vegetarian Food & me asked for a dish which we make especially for ourselves, I was a little taken aback. I realised that though I like what I cook, most of my cooking is geared towards my DH & DD's preferences. I couldn't think of a single thing which was special for me alone!!! While I was pondering over this and whether I have lost myself and other great thathvams (philosophies), along came Aruna manikandans Baby Potato Biriyani. Now I remembered my Mothers Potato Biriyani, which graced our lunch box very often as it was a family favourite and is something which can qualify for what I make specially for myself.

Here come my mom's Potato Biriyani, especially for me:

1 1/2 cups Rice (Any Indian Non glutinous Rice - Just adjust water accordingly)
1 1/2 cups - Cubed potatoes (around 1 " Cubes)
1 Onion - Sliced
2 tomatoes - chopped
1 green chilli - slit
1 tbsp - ginger garlic paste
1 tsp or less - chilli powder
1 tbsp - malli masala powder
salt to taste.
Oil/ Ghee or a mixture - as required.
Powder together the following:
3 cardomoms
1 " piece cinnamon
4 cloves
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp jeera
1/2 tsp sonf
1/2 tsp Black pepper.

Wash and clean rice. Soak it till you process the other ingredients for this dish.
Heat oil in a pressure cooker or in a heavy bottomed pan. Add sliced onions, sautee till translucent. Add green chilli & ginger garlic paste. Add chilli powder, malli masala powder and the powdered masala and salt. fry till aromatic on low flame. add chopped tomatoes and sautee till mushy.
Now add the cubed potatoes, drained rice and enough water to cook rice (for parboiled rice the amount is three times the volume of rice, for raw rice 2 times and for jeerakasala rice 1.5 times). Check for salt at this stage. Close the lid and cook till done. Garnish with chopped corriander leaves.
Serve with a salad or pappad or potato chips.

I am sending this to Vegetarian Food & Me - I am the star ,  Any One Can Cook Series 45 and to Comfort Food

Strawberry Dates Milk Shake

Freshness in a Glass

Ingredients:

10 sttrawberries
10 pitted(seedless) dates - chopped
2 Ripe bananas
1 - 2 cups Whole Milk
date syrup - as per taste.
Strawberry Ice cream - 1 scoop

Blend everything smoothly, serve chilled. easy peasy and so wholesome. I felt instantaneously energised and my daughter loved the strawberry flavour.

I am sending this to Kalyani's Kitchen Chronicles - Summer Splash guest hosted at Sangeethas Kitchen

If I have given the wrong link please feel free to correct me, I am confused about this hosting business. Still am a baby blogger. :)

Update: 27-03-2012:

I am also sending this to Tase of Pearl City's Any One Can Cook: Series 45 and Healthy Morsels
For those ladies during their first trimester with the morning sickness may not be able to drink milk can try this with Yoghurt, it will be more soothing. One thing I did to combat this is to have a glass of water which I drank as soon as I woke up , I also kept sliced cucumber with lemon juice and salt in the fridge, peeled orange segments in covered bowls so that I had something to change my mind when I thought I was feeling nauseous. It worked very well.

Update : 14-07-2012

I am sending this refreshing drink to Ramadan Friendly Recipes @ The Halal Foodie